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Special Presentation

Don(KF0ARQ) left and Bret(WOVK) right presented Don Weaver(center) a plaque for his generous donation of 2 limousine golf carts for Sparkfest 2021. His donation made it possible for us to take care of our vendors and guests due to a funeral being held at the church the same day and us having to use the parking lot across the street. Mr. Weaver is a tremendous supporter of our community and organizations such as ours. Mr. Weaver is looking forward to supporting Sparkfest 2022 this October. Thanks again Don

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March Meeting


NOTE MEETING DATE: Our March 5th meeting will be held at Sedalia-Pettis County EMA Headquarters located at 1511 N. Ohio in Sedalia. After the meeting we will conduct a testing session for locals who want to upgrade or for new Tech’s. If you would like to test please pre-register with Bret(W0VK), his email address is hota2@hotmail.com. It’s that time to pay your club dues for 2022. Hope to see everyone there.

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New Hams

Congratulations to those who tested at our February 5th meeting who received their call signs. If you hear them on the radio please welcome them to the hobby that we all love.
Marcia Withers KF0HYQ Technician
Jordan Polk KF0HYR Technician
Ryan Anderson KF0HYP Technician

Bart Kuhns KE0WZTG ( Upgrade License to General)

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SPARK Nets

February Net Control Operators
6th Doc (W3MEB)
13th Paul (KD0ETL)
20th Richard (KE0QYA)
27th Joel (KE0WJX)
Sunday Night Net begins at 8:00pm on our 2 meter repeater 147.030(-) offset

Join us each Tuesday night beginning at 7pm for our weekly ragchew net operated by Dennis (KY0P) on our 2 meter repeater 147.030 (-)offset

On Wednesday nights beginning at 8pm we have our Simplex Net operated by Paul (KD0ETL).

Plenty of opportunities to stay in touch with our club members and local friends.

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February Meeting

At our February 5th meeting Doc(W3MEB) was awarded his lifetime membership plaque by President Bret(WOVK). Doc was voted by SPARK to receive this prestigious award before SPARKFEST of last year. He was deployed by FEMA after hurricane Ida to Louisiana for 144 days so we had to wait till now to recognize him. Thank Doc for your many contributions and help to the ham radio community.

After the meeting we conducted our 1st VE test session of the year. Congratulations to the following for their new licenses and upgrade:
Marcia Withers Technician
Ryan Anderson Technician
Jordan Polk Technician
Bart Kuhns Upgrade to General

Our next club meeting will be on March 5th at EMA headquarters.

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WinLink Thursday beginning again

WinLink Thursday exercises have begun again.

Go here for information and download the exercise PDF:
https://www.emcomm-training.org/Winlink_Thursdays.html

I participated last year and found each exercise to be not only informative but a lot of fun.  Every weekly exercise added a layer of complexity and a new challenge.  As a result, quite a bit was learned regarding the capabilities and previously unknown inner workings of using WinLink.

If you are already using WinLink, then you are set. If your equipment is set up for digital modes, like FT8, then you are very close and you may only need to add the software.  There is a local VHF FM WinLink node on 145.07 WAØSDO-10.  You can use Packet Radio for access.  Or, WinLink using VARA-HF modem software works very well on HF.  Once you have WinLink working, the PDF, mentioned above, pretty much leads you click by click on what you need to complete the exercise.

The exercise runs 0000Z to 2359Z on Thursday. Usually on the weekend following the Thursday exercise, they publish a map showing all the check-ins.  It would be cool to see lots of spots show up here in central Missouri.

Harry, KØTV

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February Meeting

NOTE MEETING DATE: Our February 5th meeting will be held at Sedalia-Pettis County EMA Headquarters located at 1511 N. Ohio in Sedalia. After the meeting we will conduct a testing session for locals who want to upgrade or for new Tech’s. If you would like to test please pre-register with Bret(W0VK), his email address is hota2@hotmail.com. It’s that time to pay your club dues for 2022. Hope to see everyone there.

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Bothwell Auxiliary January 2022 Volunteer of the Month

Every month, the BRHC Hospital Auxiliary selects one of their volunteers to be recognized as a volunteer of the month.  January 2022 saw SPARK member Harry Burford, KØTV in the spotlight.  Harry has been working with the Amateur Radio station installed at the hospital for over 12 years.  He started as a Red Cross volunteer, but those volunteers were recently absorbed into the Auxiliary organization after the Red Cross closed offices in Missouri.   Here is a copy of the article from the Auxiliary newsletter. .

[pdf-embedder url=”https://wa0sdo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2022_01-BRHC-art-color.pdf” title=”2022_01 BRHC art color”]

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December Meeting: What a great meeting we had today. With over 30 members in attendance President Bret (WOVK) started it off with the year in review. We had many highlights happen during the year thanks to the outstanding members that our club is blessed with. With starting the year having over the air meetings on our repeater because of COVID, to Field Day, acquiring our club owned Ecom trailer, SPARKFEST 2021, and the SET, POTA, and Turkey Trot communication duties. We truly had a busy year with those just being the highlights. On a more somber note we lost one of our own, Bob (KE0CYR) who became a silent key on September 11th. Preparations are beginning to be discussed for 2022. We are going to be going full steam ahead to insure that 2022 will be just as fun and exciting thank in part to our fabulous members.

During our meeting 2 awards of appreciation were presented to a couple of members who exemplify great leadership to SPARK. The 1st award was presented by President Bret to Scott (KJ4MWF) for his outstanding contributions and dedication to our club. The 2nd award was presented by Bret to Paul (KD0ETL) for his expertise in being a outstanding leader during our SET exercise.

The board is excited about the opportunities that our club will have in 2022. With such a great group of members, anything is possible.